09-26-2024, 05:56 PM
One aspect that's often glossed over is the need for preserving access to accurate digital PDF scans of prior book editions for purposes of verifying citations via page number. Each reflowing of text changes the page numbering, making it almost impossible to find what an author mean when they cite, for example, "page 56" of such-and-such book. Standard citation style requires including the publisher and year, and that helps, but those editions aren't legally available once the publisher has issued a new edition. In the past, with paper books, this wasn't as much of a problem, because publishers avoided reprinting and resetting books unless there was a good reason, but with electronic texts there's no such costly overhead, and many houses churn out reprint editions all the time, for purposes of currency and to keep their catalogues looking full.
And many of the electronic versions don't have embedded page number markers at all! And if they do, it's very vague what edition they're referring to. Library Genesis not only has current editions of physical PDF scans, but PDF scans of many older versions, from different publishers. With physical stacks being obsoleted and inaccessible, often its the only way to find the original work that is being referenced.
The entire web of verifiable academic research is built on top of what is presumed to be a workable way to reference prior works. Without the ability for a scholar to point to a specific place in a text that a future researcher will be able to parse, the system comes crashing down. Verifiably building on the works of others becomes impossibly cumbersome. Imagine it as being akin to trying to give directions to a specific house or business, without using street address numbers.
This may fold into an agenda, though likely not deliberately. After all, do we really want easy verifiability in our academic publications?
And many of the electronic versions don't have embedded page number markers at all! And if they do, it's very vague what edition they're referring to. Library Genesis not only has current editions of physical PDF scans, but PDF scans of many older versions, from different publishers. With physical stacks being obsoleted and inaccessible, often its the only way to find the original work that is being referenced.
The entire web of verifiable academic research is built on top of what is presumed to be a workable way to reference prior works. Without the ability for a scholar to point to a specific place in a text that a future researcher will be able to parse, the system comes crashing down. Verifiably building on the works of others becomes impossibly cumbersome. Imagine it as being akin to trying to give directions to a specific house or business, without using street address numbers.
This may fold into an agenda, though likely not deliberately. After all, do we really want easy verifiability in our academic publications?
